


2023

by juliansweigl



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: M/M, Nostalgia, also KIDDOS, retirement fic, the og quartet are back together boys!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 19:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18901321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliansweigl/pseuds/juliansweigl
Summary: it's 2023, Mats, Thomas and Manu have just played their final game for Bayern. Basti is obsessed with Leon, a broken friendship is fully restored, Mats and Thomas will still be bickering when they're eighty, Felix has a fascination with confetti and Fabi is a cheeky know-it-all.





	2023

**Author's Note:**

> okay, _fuck ___how do I even begin to DESCRIBE THIS AND MY FEELINGS. BUT THIS IS DEDICATED TO MY TWO FAVOURITE PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE (you know who you are) <33
> 
> I can't, so, Meggie, hi, the Fabiverse is one of my favourite things in the entire universe and I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that we, well, some (and by some I mean us) would say finally combined our verses together. I am truly, really, honoured that this is now a _real thing ___and I can't wait for future shenanigans with our favourite three kiddos! <3
> 
> My other favourite person! E! Hi! Your drawings of the twins melt my heart so fucking much and bring them to life in a way that I could never imagine and I adore you and your love for Felix! Your excitement for this verse is something that I could never put into words to express how much I love and appreciate it! (actually both of you BUT-). LOVE YA DUDE

Basti won’t stop giggling and wriggling around as Bene wraps his arm tighter around him. Basti leans forward and tries to get a better look of the pitch as the seconds tick down to the end of the title battle and a first title for three years.

 

Felix sits beside Bene, swinging his legs and poking at the Bayern badge on his jersey that adorns his Papa’s name on the back with a small frown. The badge feels rough under the pad of his forefinger and he starts pulling at the corner to see if he can pull it off completely. The crowd gets louder, rallying their team one last time as injury time comes to its end.

 

Basti shrieks when the final whistle blows barrelling forward so quickly that Bene almost lets go and sends his two-nearly-three year old son flying into the next row of seats.

 

“Uncle Leon!” Basti cheers when he sees a familiar mop of curls down on the pitch running towards Joshua, “daddy?” Basti pleads, batting his eyelashes and turning around.

 

“I’m sure your Papa is going to be more than thrilled to see you rush past him for Leon.” Bene grins, amused at the offended look that’s inevitably going to appear on his husband’s face. “Ready to go, ‘Lix?”

 

Felix tilts his head backward and nods, stretching out his hand towards Bene. Basti wriggles and continues to poke Bene in the face as he manoeuvres through the stands to get downstairs. Felix stays quiet, unlike how boisterous and unsettled Basti is becoming the longer it takes to reach the pitch. Bene brushes his thumb across the back of Felix’s hand as Basti gasps, catching a glimpse of who he wants to see most.

 

Bene just sets Basti down and can only watch as Basti hurries past Thomas and Manu, straight into the arms of an unsuspecting Leon who nearly tumbles backwards with the force of the toddler attaching himself to the midfielder.

 

“Uncle Leon!” Basti cries out, his hair flopping over his eyes as Leon spins him around before setting him on his shoulders.

 

Something he regrets precisely five seconds later when Basti starts tugging at his curls.

 

Bene stands at the side of the pitch, still holding Felix’s hand as Felix kneels down and presses his hand against the ground, pulling a face at the dampness.

 

“Babe!” Another voice calls out from behind them.

 

Mats slides up beside Bene and wraps his arms around his husband’s shoulders and kisses Bene’s cheek with a broad grin on his face. Mats just sighs and tightens his grip on Bene, dropping his head to his husband’s shoulder and grinning, unable to stop.

 

Kissing Bene’s cheek once more, Mats lets go and walks up behind Felix, wrapping his two year old son up in his arms causing Felix to giggle loudly once he sees a familiar face before he climbs and wraps his arms around Mats’ neck and presses a clumsy kiss to Mats’ jaw.

 

“Papa won!” Felix exclaims,

 

“I did, ‘Lix... where’s your brother?” Mats asks, starting to look around for another blond toddler.

 

“Over there.” Bene chuckles nodding towards the centre circle where Basti is now swinging in the middle of Leon and Nikki, holding onto both of their hands. “I think you’ve been replaced, honey.”

 

Mats frowns but then Felix is leaning up and patting the side of his head.

 

“Is okay, Papa.” Felix smiles

 

Mats leans in to press a kiss to Felix’s hair before winking at Bene and walking onto the field, settling Felix on his hip as Felix gasps at the red and white confetti floating around the pitch in the warm spring breeze.

 

Mats sets Felix on the floor and can only watch, barely stifling his laughter when Felix falls to his knees and gasps at the confetti that he picks up in his tiny hands and throws into the air. Mats kneels down beside him and brushes a hand through Felix’s windswept waves as Felix continues to collect different pieces of confetti and crinkles them between his fingers with a look of concentration tugging at his face.

 

Mats glances up for a second and finds Basti once again sitting atop of Leon’s shoulders with a scarf wrapped around his neck as Leon runs around the pitch near the goal slamming a ball into the back of the empty net - nearly dropping him in the process. Felix taps him on the shoulder and Mats just manages to turn around before Felix sprinkles the confetti in his hand over Mats’ head, pieces getting stuck to his curls.

 

Felix giggles as he pulls a piece of red confetti from his hand and leans up on his tiptoes to place it carefully in Mats’ hair. Mats responds by grabbing Felix and hoisting him up in the air. Mats’ gaze flickers over to the touchline and his smile softens once he catches his husband’s eyes.

 

Yeah, nothing gets better than this.

 

Mats is sitting on the pitch with Felix sitting between his legs, collecting more pieces of confetti when he glances up, holding his arms out to the person in front of him.

 

“Hi.” Felix smiles as Thomas lifts him up, immediately dropping the confetti in his hand to Thomas’ hair and giggling when Thomas shakes his head wildly and the confetti flies in every direction. “Like a doggy!” Felix shrieks,

 

“Yeah? Like a dog?” Thomas grins as he leans down so that he’s eye level with the toddler.

 

“Nice dog.” Felix confirms, patting Thomas’ cheek.

 

Thomas just chuckles and spins Felix around whilst Mats glances up, raising his eyebrows at their keeper, a voice that suspiciously sounds a lot like his husband’s in the back of his mind.

 

“Where’s your kid?” Mats asks Manu,

 

Manu smiles a small but fond smile that Mats would totally make fun of him for if it wasn’t for the fact he looks the same whenever his boys are mentioned.

 

“See for yourself.” Manu snorts as he points over to where Fabi and Basti have now found each other amongst every other child on the pitch and are running rings around Leon and Joshua. “Poor kids, they’ll be exhausted.”

 

“They’ll be fine.” Mats dismisses,

 

“I’m talking about Leon and Jo.”

 

Mats barks out a laugh, unable to disagree - especially once he sees Leon just defiantly sit down on the pitch, legs stretched out in front of him and shake his head in response to whatever Joshua says to him.

 

“I think Leon’s already given up.” Mats points out, biting down on his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing when Basti collapses atop of Leon and starts poking the midfielder in the cheek. “I think I should go and - uh - save the poor kid.”

 

“I’ll come too.” Manu chimes in, surprising himself as he falls into step with Mats as the pair head towards the centre circle. “Fabi?” Manu calls out,

 

“Alright, scamp, I think Leon deserves a break, don’t you?” Mats chuckles, watching the way Leon’s eyes flutter between open and closed as Mats lifts Basti up from atop of Leon and sets him down on the pitch instead.

 

Basti shakes his head, his hair flopping over his eyes as he pouts and reaches for Leon. Leon’s eyes open and he rolls onto his side, holding his hand out for a high five from Basti.

 

“I’ll come and steal you back later, deal?” Leon suggests, bopping Basti’s nose.

 

Basti slaps his hand and nods before running in the direction of Thomas and Felix who playing with the confetti (still).

 

Fabi chases after Basti, waving at his dad and Manu’s calls of slow down go unheard from the five year old who crowds around Thomas whilst Basti hugs Thomas’ legs.

 

“Rather him than me.” Mats laughs, nodding towards Thomas who cannot move for the three children attaching themselves to him.

 

Manu smiles, a lovestruck grin as he looks over at Thomas, his son and his unofficial nephews before humming in agreement and nudging Mats’ shoulder. It’s a sign, a simple sign but a sign nevertheless as their careers have come to an end but somehow, everything has just begun.

 

‘Help.’ Thomas mouths once Mats and Manu are close enough,

 

Though both of them shake their head, finding Thomas playing babysitter to be more amusing than it should be. Thomas flips Mats off before sending a pleading look to Manu.

 

Fabi reaches up and awkwardly taps on Felix’s leg, making a ‘come here’ motion towards him. Thomas sets Felix down on the pitch and Fabi immediately clutches onto Felix’s hand and leads the younger over to where Basti is swinging the scarf around in the air wildly. He doesn’t see where he’s waving it and it accidentally smacks Felix and Fabi in the face,

 

Felix cries out and Basti grows wide eyed, scrambling towards his brother and suffocating him in a hug, gently patting the top of Felix’s head and pressing a messy kiss to his brother’s forehead.

 

“Is okay, ‘Lix.” Basti promises, tightening his arms around his older brother.

 

Fabi turns around and glances up at Manu through his eyelashes, Manu nods at him and Fabi takes a step closer to Felix and slides his arm around the younger’s shoulders and rests his cheek atop of Felix’s head, reassuringly rubbing his shoulder.

 

“He really is your kid, Hummels.” Thomas snorts with a quick shake of his head,

 

Mats laughs but there’s a prideful look in his eyes - even if the cause is his son smacking his brother in the face with a scarf.

 

“Congratulations boys, not the worst way to go out, huh?” Bene smirks as he joins them, leaning against Mats’ side.

 

Mats leans down and brushes his thumb across the back of his husband’s hand for a second before slinging his arm around Bene’s shoulders. Bene glances over Mats’ shoulder and smiles at Fabi giving, or at least attempting to piggy back Basti up and down the halfway line,

 

“He gets bigger every time I see him.” Bene chuckles, turning his head to face Manu. “It’s only been - what? A week since I last saw him.”

 

If anything, Manu’s smile grows wider.

 

“Fabi! Put Basti-”

 

“- No, leave him. I want to see if does it.” Mats interjects, slamming a hand over his best friend’s mouth. “Drinks on you if he doesn’t make it to the starting spot.”

 

Thomas raises his eyebrows before grinning and stepping back to cheer his son on. Basti slips and squeals as Fabi continues to run towards the centre circle. Thomas claps his hands together and watches as Basti finally falls onto the pitch, giggling - but Fabi is standing on the starting spot-

 

“Drinks on _who_ tonight?” Thomas smirks,

 

Mats rolls his eyes. Basti gets to his feet and runs back to Felix, sitting down beside him and helping him collect confetti whilst Fabi runs towards the four of them, arms spread out wide as he runs past Thomas and Mats’ bickering to Manu who lifts him up in one swift motion, settling him on his hip.

 

Fabi glances over at Bene curiously, one arm slung around Manu’s neck as he scrutinizes his Papa’s best friend, scrunching his nose up in a way that has Bene biting back a chuckle at just _how_ alike he is to Manu.

 

“Hiya, Uncle Benni!” Fabi screeches once he’s stopped his investigation and waves frantically, leaning backwards and grinning a gap-toothed smile. “I lost a tooth last night!”

 

“Did you? Did you get money for it?” Bene asks, leaning forward and ruffling Fabi’s hair,

 

“I did! Didn’t I, Papa?” Fabi asks, shaking and kicking out his legs as he lifts his finger to poke at the gap in his teeth now-

 

“Don’t do that.” Manu tells him, gently pulling Fabi’s hand away.

 

Fabi keeps grinning nevertheless and Bene has to shake his head at one point at the shocking resemblance to Manu that he sees in the five year old currently chattering away. Fabi pushes at Manu’s shoulder until Manu sets him down and allows him to walk over to Bene.

 

Bene kneels down so that he’s eye level with Fabi and smiles at his mismatched eyes. Bene feels a surge of warmth in his chest for his best friends’ kid as Fabi sighs and leans up on his tiptoes to Bene’s ear, cupping his mouth.

 

“Papa will miss you.”

 

Instinctively, Bene laughs as he wraps an arm around Fabi and turns to look at him. “Yeah?”

 

Fabi nods so Bene leans closer and whispers in his ear though it’s more than loud enough for Manu to overhear.

 

“I’ll miss him too.”

 

Manu nods, a tentative smile twitching at the corners of his lips as he meets his best friend’s eyes and shrugs as Fabi smiles a satisfied grin and runs off once Joshua and Leon come into his eyeline - Basti already clinging to Leon. Bene gets to his feet-

 

“He’s right, you know?” Manu mumbles and his cheeks are red as he looks down at the pitch,

 

Bene smiles, “Course he is, he’s a smart kid. It’s not that far a drive.”

 

Manu’s smile appears fully this time and he’s nodding. “Yeah, easily do it in a day.”

 

Mats wraps his arm around Bene’s shoulders as Leon and Joshua wrangle three children between them, Basti sitting on Leon’s shoulders and Felix attached to Joshua’s back whilst Fabi holds onto both of their hands allowing the two to swing Fabi in-between them.

 

“Retirement looks… busy.” Mats snorts, “and here I was thinking I could finally have a break.”

 

Thomas hums in agreement. “Well, you’ve always been a bit naive if I’m being honest.”

 

And Thomas doesn’t even flinch at the retaliating slap from Mats.

 

Leon and Joshua finally reach them with the three boys who are more interested in Serge chasing Nikki around the pitch to notice their parents sharing a nostalgic moment about how much they’ve grown up and how things have changed.

 

“Strange to think that this is it.” Thomas murmurs, voice barely heard above the resounding noise in the stadium.

 

“Yeah,” Mats laughs a bittersweet laugh before turning to Leon. “Don’t ruin our legacy, Goretzka.” Mats warns but the malice that should be there is non-existent so Leon just shrugs.

 

“Still see you?” Basti asks once he registers the sullen mood surrounding them amidst the celebrations.

 

Leon smiles and bops Basti’s nose. “Course, I think your Papa would miss me too much otherwise.”

 

Mats slaps Leon on the upside of the head.

 

“So… get drunk together for one last time tonight?” Thomas suggests, an arm around Joshua’s shoulder as Joshua holds out a sleepy Felix towards Bene.

 

Bene shakes his head. “That’s a lie if _ever_ I’ve heard one, Müller.”

 

Fabi walks to stand beside Manu and frown up at Thomas. “Sad?”

 

Thomas shakes his head and lifts Fabi up, tickling his sides causing him to squeal loudly. “Of course not, Krümel, it might be the end of an era though.”

 

Mats grins. “The new one is just around the corner though and I, boys, can’t fucking wait.”

 

“Language!” Manu and Bene scold in unison.

 

“Schalkers.” Mats mutters under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr!](https://hoewedeshummels.tumblr.com)


End file.
